the Alucobond or Alpolic I use is 4mm. Does anybody has any experience in routing the ACM for bending it and what would be the best setup? PS: I already have the special bits.Thank youDidier

Logged

Festool USA does not pre-approve the contents of this website nor endorse the application or use of any Festool product in any way other than in the manner described in the Festool Instruction Manual. To reduce the risk of serious injury and/or damage to your Festool product, always read, understand and follow all warnings and instructions in your Festool product's Instruction Manual. Although Festool strives for accuracy in the website material, the website may contain inaccuracies. Festool makes no representations about the accuracy, reliability, completeness or timeliness of the material on this website or about the results to be obtained from using the website. Festool and its affiliates cannot be responsible for improper postings or your reliance on the website's material. Your use of any material contained on this website is entirely at your own risk. The content contained on this site is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice.

Teocaf,Thank you. I already knew about the PF1200 saw and the cutting blade for Alucobond but they do not sell it in the USA. I have a friend in Germany who could get it for me but it does not exist in our current 60htrz. I am going to try with my 1400 router and see if I can get repetitive accurate groves. We are in the middle of an R&D project and we know we will eventually use a CNC Alucobond machine but before we commit to the expense we want to be familiar with ACM.Anyway thanks a lot for answering my quest. I have more experience with cabinetry .SincerelyDidier

Might be a little late, but here's my experience with folding massive (non-dibond) 2mm aluminium sheets for a custom extractor hood project, for this material to fold nicely i needed ~1.5mm deep v-grooves.

First i used a OF 1010 router with the Festool dibond router bit (i know, not made for the material - but it survived the several meters i did without any noticeable wear) on a FS rail, this worked ok but was slow since i did it in several passes.

Since i had quite some folds to make i turned to using a TS 55 REBQ with the TF52 blade in 45° setting on the rail. Because the blade is 2mm and i cut 1.5mm deep the resulting groove was nicely v-shaped and completed in a single quick pass - for the few sharper ~150° bends i needed i did another pass directly next to the first one, resulting in a maybe not a perfect completely filled corner but good enough for my purpose.

The only hazzle was the initial setup of exact cut depth with the screw on the knob (and some test cuts), only pitfall was to realize that the FS had to supported all the way by the material to be vertically completely straight or the cut wouldn't be the same depth all the way, so i supported the FS with remainders from the first cuts all the way.

Result was (compared to using the router) cleaner and way quicker, all folds folded nicely and without tear.

You might need to do a second cut from the other side (turning the FS) to get the V-shape right since your material is thicker so the blade won't cut both sides of the groove in one pass, but should you have a TS, FS and a TF52 blade at hand this could do the trick for you - at least for low volumes or samples.

Not to revive an old thread here but just wanted to chime in as it was not answered. I use the 1400 and cut tons of acm. Use the special bit and cut as deep as possible right prior to the aluminum. I make grooves that are 16 feet long and have made hundreds. Issues are pressure and seams in the track. Doesn't matter what the depth number is because the weight of your arm on the router will make or break a fold. The key is to set it once and have the same guy do the same thing every time. The little leveling foot kinda sucks for this application. Offset base was the winner.I came across this trying to find other options. Amana makes a blade that I might be able to get bored out for the 55.